Direction signal for vehicles



April 6 1926.

F. J. CASSARETI'O DIRECTION SIGNAL FOR vEIcLEs l mvlm'cm Frederick cLC'qsMufotto Filed April 27. 1925 ATTORNEY ,UNITED STATES:

Patented Apr, `6, 1926.

PATENT oFF-Ica,

Y FREDERICK I. CASSA-Barro; or stiocir'roiv,Y ciliIiIivoRnIA.f v Y c DIRECTION SIGNALFonVEHICLES.'` al.

yApplication aie'd Aprii 27, i925. fseriai'Nq. larrosti;

To all whom it may concern.' kr

Be it known that I, ltiniDnRIoIIJg@Assnviurr'ro, a lcitizen of the United States, resid.

ing at Stockton, county of San Joaquin, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 'in Direction Signals for Vehicles; and I do declare ythe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference lbeing had. to the accompanying drawings, and "to the to take the place of the human arm, and are located on the vehicle where the vsignal arm can be readily seen by others.' .s

The principal object of my invention is topi-Ovide a signal of vthis characterhaving v novel features of construction andoperation, andv one especially adapted for installation on motor vehicles' of the sedan or other closed body types; l f 4,

A further ob'ect ofthe invention is to provide controlmeans for the signal so ari-l rangedv that it may be selectively moved to diifer'ent positions by hand, 'and it rwill also beautomatically moved to one 'onlyof said positions whenI the foot brake ofthe vehicle is applied the hand or selective andauto# maticoperations 'not interfering fwith each other.

kA further obijectiof the inventionis -to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly' effective for the purpose for which it is` designed.

These objects Iaccomplish vbyrmean's of such structure and relative. arrangement of parts as will fully appear bya perusal ofV i fremoved'. 1

`the following'specification and claims.

i' erence indicatescorresponding, parts'. in the several views: f

Fig.l 1 is al ersp'ective view oflinyi'signal 1showing the sainemounted inthe `fianie work of a closed carfbod'y FigfQ is a rear view ofthe signal and the hand operating means therefor, the adjacent ,face of the signal casing beingremoved.

In the drawings similar ,characters ofref `r Sisa'fragmentary sideview 'of the upper portion of the signal member.l

Fig.' llis a sectional diagram showing the connection between the hand signal control member and the foot brake rod. y

Fig. 5 isa fragmentary transversesection of the signal, on the line 5 5 of F ig.p ,3.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentaryy perspective view' of the signal 'arm detached.`

' Referring now,moreparticularly to the characters of" reference on the drawings, th

numeral 1 denotes a vertical vrectaifigular casi ing, open along its outer f-ace'and'adapt'ed'tol beset intothe front side post 2 of 'car body, so as 'to be preferablylflushtherewith andV with the open side ofthe casing"facingto they side of ,the car. l Fixed inl the casing s end thereof is a shaft 3 on which isfturnably mounted a head t. Fitting onto theouter end ofV the head is a hollow signaljarm :5, preferably rectangular in section and'of suitable' length. This arm is of frosted glass or other translucent vmaterial and is of suchy dimensionsjthat whenl vertically disposedl vit i tected from damage. Y

will fit 'insidelthe casing and be thus, prof The signal arm'is removably mounted ontlie headso as to be-easily detached'to replace the bulb when necessary by means' of metal T members S.' .Suitablel groo`ve'sl9fare cutin -Y the arm andl head to receive these members, which 'are' so disposed that theirc'ross heads l l'are set in the arm,.while their-stems vextend adjacent Ythe upper Secured at'the outer endi'oftlie' head and .i yprojecting, into the signal arm is an electric .light bulb 6 backed by 4a suitable reflector 7 beyond the arm and` overjthehead'i fora" i certain distance. Ther stems are `removably attached to the head` by screws` 10. vrThusit will be seen that when the vmembers 8'7ar'e lin place the arm is"l held from longitudinal dis- .placement lon the head4,but may be immediately slippedofl' when said Vmembers are .v

A hollow vdrum lil'islixed onV one vendof changing sheave 13.y To encloseV the drum and the V'cable a vertical partition 1cty is inounted'inithe casing from ftop'tobottoni thehead 4, on'which drum is wound acable l 12 or the like which extends to the bottoni-of the casing'andthen out througlitthe baclrof the casing around v*any ordinary direction l j thereof and located between the head 4 and v Amanipulation of the knob.

the drum. rIherefore while that part of the casing in which the arm is located may be left open to the outside the other side may be completely enclosed so as to protect the drum and cable from dirt, dust and the elements generally.

A spiral spring 15 is housed in the drum, one end of the spring being attached to thtI drum and the other to the fixed shaft 3, and arranged so that the arm 5 is normally held in a vertical position or concealed in the casing. It will therefore be seen that if the cable is pulled down, the drum will be rotated and the arm swung upwardly from its concealed or vertical position. Y

According to the laws of this State a signal extending at a downward 45o angle in dicates stop, a horizontal position of the signal denotes left turn; and an upward 45 angleof the signal denotes right turn. To enable the signal to be readily moved to these different positions I provide the following operating` and control means.

Mounted on the dashboard 1G of the vehicle at a suitable location is a plate 1T having a vertical slot 18. Slidable in the slot is a stem 19 having` on its outer end a knob or handle 20. The cable 12 is connected to the inner end of the stem leading to said stem over a sheave 21 which is located a certain distance to one side of the sheave '13. The sheave 2l is also located to one side of the vertical plane of the slot 18 thereabove, so that the cable from the stem to said sheave extends at an upward angle to the slot. The slot has spaced recesses 29. to partially receive the stem, said recesses being located on that side of the slot toward which the cable slants. rI`he recesses are disposed so that when the stem is seated therein the signal arm is moved to the left turn and right turn signaling positions. V

By reason of the recesses and the slope of the cable, the stem is automatically pulled sideways into said recesses when the stem is horizontally alined therewith. rlhe operator may then let go of the knob and then said knob will remain set until the operator moves the stem laterally out of the recess by The spring 15 f will then act to restore the arm to its neutral or concealed position in the casing.

A positioning of the stem intermediate the top of the slot and the first receses will place the signal arm in a stop signal position. A recess for such position may also be provided but I preferably omit the same for reasons hereinafter seen.

Since an intention to stop is almost always accompanied by a brake application I operatively connect the stem to the brake rod 23 so as to move the stem and signal to the stop position upon the depression of the brake pedal 24 by the following means.

An additional length of cable 25 extends downwardly from the stem to the rod 23 over any necessary number of 'direction changing sheaves 26, so arranged that when the rod moves forward with the application of the brakes, the stem 19 will be moved down- To insure that the stem will only be moved the distance necessary to move the signal to a stop position regardless of the extent of movement of the brake rod, I provide a stop member 27 on the cable 25 adapted to abut against a fixed member of the car when the cable has been moved the requiredl distance. To then allow of further movement of the brake rod without breaking the cable, I interpose a tension spring 28 therein between the stop 27 and rod 23.

In this manner it will be seen that whenever the brake pedal is depressed the signal arm will be automatically moved to its stop indicating position and will return to a neutral position as soon as the brake is released, and without hand manipulation of the knob 20 by the operator being necessary, owing to the omission of a stop-position recess in rthe slot 18. At the saine time it will be seen that the signal may be set to any position by hand without interfering with the brake control mechanism and regardless of whether the brakes are set or not, since with such hand manipulation the cable 25 merely becomes slack.

In this signal device the lamp 6 is intended to be lit continuously just as are the running lights and it is wired in the lighting circuit without any additional switch means being necessary. This is possible, because with my arrangement the arm when not extended is concealed from View ahead or behind the vehicle and consequently cannot give a false signal.

If the device is used for open cars, the casing would of course be provided with a suitable bracket or clamps for attachment to the windshield or the like.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

I/Vhile this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A direction signal structure; for vehicles comprising a movablesignal arm, a stem movable in a slot, a cable leading from the stem, means between the'cable and arm whereby with a movement of the stem the arm will be moved to a signal displaying position, and means tending to restore the arm to a neutral position whereby the cable is maintained in-tension; the slot having'a side moving said arm to a number of predeterrecess to receive the stem .when the latter mined positions, and means connected to said has moved akpredetermined distance and the hand means and adapted to be connected to cable extending lfrom the stemk at an angle the foot brake mechanism. of the' vehicle for 5 to that side of the slot in which the recess independently moving said hand means and 15 is located whereby to automatically pullthev arm to only one of said positions when the stem laterally into said recess when the 'stem brake is applied. ,A y

is in alinement therewith. In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

2. A direction signal for vehicles nclud- 10 ing, a movable signal arm, hand` means FREDERICK CASSARETTO. 

